Spain, Belgium - With a pair of Italians
by leandracat
Summary: Antonio's last evening was a little rough.


Bella entered the Spaniard-house quietly, closing the door behind her slowly. She thought she would surprise Antonio and his little, forever grumpy "captive" with some breakfast that day, it had been a while since she last visited anyway. She also hoped that with the fresh waffles she could put Lovino in a better mood by starting his day well, making it easier for Antonio to survive another day with the boy. She knew exactly how hard it was for him to put up with his tantrums, even if he never showed anything from it, he always handled things with a smile. Sometimes when Lovino made a mess, he could make him apologize in tears after talking to him for a while, pulling him on his lap or just holding his hands and crouching in front of him. That only happened though when he actually had the patience to deal with him, not only pretended he did.

"Hello." She said softly, not really sure if the boys had been awake yet since the silence was too big. She made her way towards the kitchen, but first she had to walk through the living room to get there, where she stopped with a soft gasp as she saw something really unexpected: a large blanket fort. She wondered if it was another idea of Antonio to make better friends with Lovino, however, it really took her by surprise. After finding the entrance, the first thing she noticed was Antonio's head sticking out, but when she crouched down and took a closer look, she could see that one of his arms were around Lovino on his side, and his other arm in the same way around another little boy, whom she thought would be Feliciano, Lovi's brother, and whom she only heard about but never had the luck to meet him before.

Smiling at the sight, she slowly extended her arm to gently stroke Antonio's already messy, dark hair and his forehead to wake him up. Soon he opened his eyes with a soft sigh, and tilted his head back to see the early morning intruder. She smiled and slowly ran her fingers through his hair again before pulling her hand back. "Good morning." She whispered, receiving a tired, lazy smile in return. "Ciao, Bella." He said softly, using Lovino's way to greet her, partly to carefully make fun of the sleeping Italian grumpiness, but rather because he knew she liked to hear that. Not from him, but Lovino, but he didn't care that much at the moment. "Give me a minute and I'll be there with you." She nodded, stood up, and grabbing her little basket, she finally walked into the kitchen, placed the somewhat still warm chocolate covered waffles on the table, then unwrapped them, leaving them on just the plate.

She took a seat just in the second Antonio walked in as well, moving slowly and tiredly before plopping down onto the chair opposite her. He lifted his gaze slowly at her, making her frown immediately. "I don't know when was the last time I saw you this exhausted..." She said softly. "How come you have the two of them now?" He sighed and rubbed his face with his palm, first trying to suppress a yawn, but he couldn't help letting it out in the end. "Sorry..." He mumbled with his morning deep voice and rested his arms on the table in front of him. "Elisa said they wanted to have some time alone to sort some things out... Or maybe not that, but she asked me to let Feli stay for a few days." He rubbed his chin against his shoulder to scratch it before turning his head back to her. "I thought since they are brothers, Lovi would be calmer and they would be playing and have a good time together..." He sighed long, rolling his eyes to express his disappointment and slight annoyance. "But no, he's even worse."

She hissed softly, not exactly being happy about the situation either. "I see... I brought you some breakfast though, eat a bit." She pushed the plate to him. "I would have brought more if I knew Feliciano was here with you." He grabbed a piece and smiled. "Don't worry, I cannot be thankful enough for bringing me this already. I honestly don't feel like doing anything at all today... These boys are so tiring." He took a big bite from the waffle and chewed on it slowly, the sweet taste making him feel slightly better. "What have they done to you?" She asked with a small smile. "How long did it take you to build that fort? It looks really good." She leaned back on her chair as she waited for him to swallow and answer.

He swallowed hard, then took a deep breath, preparing to tell the whole story of the past day. "I honestly didn't expect them to be this hard to take care of. They seem too different so far." He sighed, scratching his head with his free hand, and took another bite to make thinking of the time he spent with the boys so far not so bad. "Feliciano came in the afternoon, we unpacked his things, then he fell asleep immediately on the couch, I guess the long ride made him tired. In the evening we showed him around, and we picked some tomatoes for dinner." She giggled softly. "I'm not surprised." He smiled and shook his head. "You know me. Anyway... Everything went just fine until we came back inside. I let them help washing the tomatoes, then I wanted to make something to eat. And Lovi likes to sit on the counter and watch while I'm busy in the kitchen, so I sat him up there with the rest of the tomatoes in the basket, and Feli on the other side of it. I talked a little with my guest while I was cooking , then I noticed that he was eyeing my fruits next to him, so I told him he could eat some if he wanted to... And that's when the disaster started, since suddenly Lovi also wanted to eat as if I never let him, and somehow he always only wanted the ones Feli picked out." He growled softly, rubbing his forehead and eyes with a hand. "And he kept shouting until Feli started crying. And when a kid cries, you throw everything aside to go comfort them."

Bella smiled happily, being proud of Antonio for being so good to children. The boys didn't even know how lucky they were with him, another person as patient and tolerant as him was really hard to find. "When I was finally done cooking and we sat down to eat, I saw that Feli was just fishing in his food, he said it didn't taste good, so I had to make something else for him." He continued, and she gasped softly. "Is he picky?" He shook his head. "I wouldn't call him picky... Just used to different meals." He shrugged, just looking at the waffles in front of him, leaving most of it for the boys when they wake up.

"Bathtime started out as all good..." He frowned uncomfortably. "Everything went just fine until I told Lovi to wash himself like Feliciano, since he could do it alone. I'm an idiot. He said he hated me and demanded that I bring Feli back home. And there was shouting and crying, and me comforting Feliciano again. Bella, why does he do that to me?" He looked up at the girl slowly, his expression still exhausted and somewhat painful. "He's jealous." She replied softly. "Feli is more skillful and nicer, and you probably paid more attention to him. He now feels bad and thinks you love his brother more than him. He wants your full attention and have you all to himself. Kids do that." She shrugged and smiled at him reassuringly, still showing that there was nothing he could do against that.

"You still haven't told me about that fort. I'm still curious." She said with a big smile after a short while spent in silence. "Oh... That started with another bad attempt to make peace between them." He moaned, not even wanting to think about it, he leaned his cheek into his palm as he talked. "I thought of putting them in one bed and I would have slept alone in mine. Lovi of course didn't want to share. I suggested that Feli slept with me and he was fine with it, unlike the grumpy one. He suddenly said he wanted to sleep with me." He shook his head and put his arm down on t he table. "Then I really hoped they would like a fort like that, so I started building one in the living room. You can imagine how happy I was when they were standing behind me, all excited and just waiting for me to finish, so they could get inside. I only sent them to get pillows, then we could start our indoor camping." He smiled. "They were so fascinated, they were adorable. Thankfully Lovi forgot about his war against his brother as well, and we could go to sleep in peace." She giggled softly. "You looked really cute sleeping like that with them." Antonio chuckled, shrugging. "Anything for the kids. It wasn't even that uncomfortable. Fancy joining us some other time?" He grinned as he stretched long, leaning back on his chair. Bella smiled widely, stood up and walked over to him. "Maybe some other time. Now I have to go. Good luck with the kids. I know they're in good hands." She leaned down to kiss Antonio's cheeks quickly, then straightened up again.

"I'll walk you out." He said and pushed himself up too, to go with her until the front door. They said their goodbyes and Bella went home, leaving poor Antonio alone with the pair of Italians. He walked back to the living room and peeked into the fort, only to see that his sleeping place had been occupied by two little boys holding hands.


End file.
